4 ways to better calm your nerves, according to Super Bowl champions

Find a distraction

When facing something that brings you immediate stress and anxiety, it can be smart to find a distraction that helps you get through the task.

“This may sound silly, but as a receiver, the confidence of being able to catch the ball sometimes leaves you,” Doug Baldwin, Seattle Seahawks wide receiver during the 2015 Super Bowl, told The Athletic. “I could distract my mind and go to something that was a little bit more controllable and lighthearted.”

Find something outside of the stressful task to focus on, whether it’s music, an audiobook or just thinking about what you plan to eat for dinner.

“What it was doing was re-grounding me in that moment,” Baldwin told The Athletic. “Kind of helping me get in tune with my body. The simple touching of your fingertips, that sends electro signals throughout your body.”

Focus on breath work

When you find yourself in an uncertain situation, you may begin to lose control of your breathing, which will only increase your stress. Focusing on breath work is another great way to handle these situations when they arise.

“It would start kind of slowing my heart rate down,” Kansas City Chiefs punter Dustin Colquitt told The Athletic. “In between that and the music, it kept me at a calm or a peace. Just kind of took the nerves out of everything.”

There are many ways to go about calming breath work. According to the Cleveland Clinic, the best methods include taking long, intentional breaths before slowly releasing them from you body. Doing this can calm you down no matter what is going on in the situation.

According to former Pittsburgh Steelers guard Willie Colon, he “would count to 10 and then from 10 go all the way to one and then go all the way back to 10,” he told The Athletic.

“Just counting and focusing on my breathing really calmed my nerves. That was something that always helped me,” Colon said.

Visualize your success

Some people find this method far-fetched, however, some professional athletes will attribute some success to their ability to properly visualize what they want to take place.

“I’d talk to myself. I’d say: ‘You’re going to make every tackle. This is what’s coming your way.’ Just bringing that energy to me, bringing that positive success to me,” Seattle Seahawks linebacker K.J. Wright told The Athletic. “That was a freaking game changer. I swear by that.”

However, it is key to not focus too much on this method of stress release, because it is still possible for anything to happen.

“Don’t set the expectation that it’s going to go perfect,” Seattle Seahawks linebacker Malcolm Smith, the MVP of the 2014 Super Bowl, told The Athletic. “You’ll make a mistake, knock it out and just keep going.”

Embrace the big moment

In many of these stressful situations that come up in our lives, these are the times when you are being called to lean in and make the most of what is being offered to you.

“There was no impostor syndrome because we had proven that we deserved to be there,” Smith told The Athletic. “Typically if you have a big day, it’s often because you earned that opportunity to be there. That helped me to calm down and be present.”

One the other hand, one Super Bowl-winning coach suggested treating the big moments like all of the other moments. Bruce Arians, who won a Super Bowl in 2021 as the head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers said, “I never tried to change.”

“I tried to stay the same,” Arians told The Athletic. “Just keep the routine the same so there’s no more extra hype.”

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